faithfulness matters. today.

"At this time, Peter stood up in the midst of the brethren (a gathering of about one hundred and twenty persons was there together), and said...'therefore it is necessary that of the men who have accompanied us all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us--beginning with the baptism of John until the day that He was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us of His resurrection.' So they put forward two men, Joseph called Barsabbas (who was also called Justus), and Matthias." Acts 1:15-23

Two thoughts:

First, there were one hundred and twenty people in this room! As I read through the gospels, I usually only think about the 12 or so that I know by name: John, James, Peter, etc. But there were literally dozens more who followed Jesus just as consistently & faithfully as the 12. But we don't know their names. How humbling for them! How humbling for me! God is saying that recognition is not the reward for faithfulness. My name may not appear in the program, but my role is essential for the story to unfold. I must be ok with being one of the 120. I am also reminded that I'm not the first one to walk into the frontier; there have been countless (& typically nameless) followers of Jesus who have gone before me and who will come after me. I am part of the story; I am not the main part of the story. Jesus is.

Second, Joseph & Matthias are really cool guys. Peter looks around the room and describes the kind of person they are looking for to step into Judas' abandoned role: this man must have accompanied Jesus the whole time--from the very very beginning all the way until a few hours ago when He left. The whole time! That means that there were at least these two men (but probably more) who had been faithfully walking with Jesus and serving with Jesus and learning from Jesus for all of His ministry that we never hear anything about! They were following Him not because they had a 'position,' but because they truly believed He is who He said He is. Not only were they following Him the whole time, but, in order to be qualified to step into the role God had for them, they must have been faithful the whole time! This wasn't a 'I guess we need another apostle so let's get some resumes and see who will do' kind of appointment; the guidelines were clear: the man to take Judas' place must have been with us the whole time. So why am I making such a big deal about this? Because I've seen that lazy people stay lazy and faithful diligent people stay faithful and diligent. What Peter is really saying is that they needed someone who had proved faithful in what he had been entrusted with, not someone who would promise faithfulness.

So the lesson for me is simple, but extremely challenging: Today is important! God asks for faithfulness today, not promises of faithfulness tomorrow. Today He is working in me the things I will need for tomorrow. If I don't show up today, I won't be able to show up tomorrow. Faithfulness matters. Today.